When people declare, “We want justice” which is the war cry that is rending the air today, I think it is more than punishment for the guilty who committed the heinous crime which has sunk people to the depths of despair and anger. I think it is a loaded phrase which demands an overhaul of the entire system in which, over aeons, humans have chosen to tread the path that is degraded rather than the path which leads to enlightenment. I think that it is the very rot at the root of human “civilisation” which is under attack.
The history of civilisation is the story of how the strong dominate the weak, physically, politically, economically, educationally. Dozens of philosophers took pains to try to determine ways to create just if not ideal societies and many “ism”s were born but humans turned them into theories which could not be practised with any effectiveness. The isms when implemented on the ground took turns which made mockeries of the original idea. Communism became synonymous with oppressive regimes. Capitalism became synonymous with the continuation of oppression of the powerless by the powerful. Corporations, backed by governments, grabbed the dwellings of people, their lands, displacing them, destroying nature and depleting the earth of her resources so that they, the corporates, could generate riches for themselves. The practice continues as we hear of individuals in positions of power in contracted companies pilfering funds in order to amass personal wealth. Buildings collapse, as do bridges because material meant for construction was compromised with. People, individuals, don’t pause to think that they cannot take with them the wealth they gather in this world to the other world.
Didimas and Thakumas (grandmothers), Jethimas, Mashimas and Kakimas (aunts), not to mention the younger generations of women and girls who have spilled out on to the streets to demand justice have lived with the knowledge that their gender has been at the receiving end of grave injustice for eons in the form of domestic violence, rape and unimaginable oppression. They have had enough. Their demand for justice is more than patchwork punishments.
Dadus, Thakurda (grandfathers), Jethus, Meshos, Kakus (uncles) and the younger generations of men and boys too have come out in overwhelming support. The demand for justice is not only for one gender but it is for all. Justice for all.
On the face of it, the five-point demands of the junior doctors are all that “justice” entails. But it is only the tip of the iceberg of the demand for justice even when such justice is delivered.
West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee, once had told me during an interview, “I believe that one good person can turn all the evil around them into good.” Today, her gesture of coming out, into the rain, to talk to the protesting doctors could be a step in the right direction.
We are heading towards the season when good triumphs over evil.